


Hello...

by RomanoffOrcrist



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, and Steve broke it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 06:30:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8239370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomanoffOrcrist/pseuds/RomanoffOrcrist
Summary: Tony picked up the phone in his hand. He stared at it. He should have done this earlier. He had sat like this many times, staring at the phone, debating calling. Today was the day, he would actually do it....





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this shortly after Civil War came out, and I just found it with my stuff so I decided to share it

Tony picked up the phone in his hand. He stared at it. He should have done this earlier. He had sat like this many times, staring at the phone, debating calling. Today was the day, he would actually do it. 

He flipped it open. He inwardly grimaced at Steve's choice of an old flip phone. 

He dialed the one number that was in the contacts, then he held the phone up to his ear. 

The dial tone sounded, and Tony's heart started racing. Would Steve answer? Did he even want him to answer? Tony had no idea what he was going to say.

"Tony?" The voice on the other line said. 

Tony did not know if he was relieved or stressed that Steve had answered. He swallowed and tried to figure out what to say before the silence got to long. 

"Uh, hi Steve," Tony began, "I got your letter.....well obviously I got it, because I'm talking to you on the phone you sent....but I read your letter.....So where are you?....well I guess I don't want to know, but I wanted to check if you were okay-"

"Tony," Steve interrupted. "I'm sorry,"

Tony straightened in surprise. 

"...I'm sorry it had to end this way," Steve finished. 

Tony sighed. Not sorry for what he had done, not sorry for how Tony felt, but sorry that it had to end that way. At least he was sorry. 

"Yeah, okay," Tony replied awkwardly. He was not sure how to reply. He supposed he should tell Steve that he forgave him, but Steve had not said that *he* was sorry, just that he was sorry for the circumstances. He also figured that he should tell Steve he was sorry, but he did not know for what. He was not sorry for signing the Accords. He was probably sorry for fighting Bucky, but he did not feel that he could swallow his pride and admit it yet. Not on the phone at least, perhaps if they were in person it would be different. But he too was sorry for how things had turned out.   
"Me too," He finally decided. 

"Tony, how are you doing?"

"Oh, just fine. I've got Rhodey, and Vision's here; we're great." Tony assured quickly, hiding the truth inside as was reflexive to him.  
"How's everybody else?" Tony asked. 

He could hear Steve shift uncomfortably. 

"I got a call from Ross, he said something about trouble at Raft - I put him on hold, didn't get back with him," Tony said, just sounding like he was rambling, but he was really trying to let Steve know that he knew that he broke them out. 

"They're okay," Steve replied. 

"I had no idea they were gonna be put in there, and I tried to tell them that but they were all heckling me," Tony said. 

"Tony, they know."

"You shouldn't have dragged them all into this," Tony could not stop himself from blurting. 

"What?" Was Steve's reply. 

"Listen, I know you needed hands," Tony tried to justify, "But Clint, he's got a family, and Wanda, she didn't have a fight in this, and same with that ant-man. Did any of them know what you're fighting for?" Tony demanded. 

"And you brought in a kid!" Steve accused. 

Tony stuttered for a short moment before replying, "To be fair, I had him so he could web you guys up so we could take you in."

"Yeah, it's only okay when you do it, when it will help you win," Steve jabbed. "But he didn't know what he was fighting for!" Steve accused. 

"But I wasn't asking him to fight the law! You made fugitives out of Wanda and Clint!" Tony exclaimed. 

"You're just jealous that they picked me over you! If you can't accept that..."

Steve's words pierced a deep wound within Tony. He felt as though his heart was bleeding out. He felt empty, alone. He tried to recover, build back his facade, as was his specialty. He struggled to talk, but his voice smoothed as he spoke, "It was imperative that we bring you in then, because Ross had plans to send out men to shoot you. I was trying to save your life, dammit!" Tony exclaimed. 

"The sentiment is nice Tony, but you think we would have been impaired by ordinary gunmen?" Steve questioned, his voice had developed a cold layer. 

Tony's heart sunk. He thought it had been the right thing to do. He had been trying to protect Steve and the others. 

"I thought it was the right thing to do...not because I thought you needed to be incarcerated - I definitely didn't think you needed to be incarcerated! I just thought it would be the easiest to sort out-"

"Well maybe you should consider the fact that you're wrong every once and a while," Steve snapped. 

When met with opposition, Tony's automatic defense mechanism was to make cutting remarks, "What, like you were wrong to keep the truth about my parents death?"

Steve's voice softened, "Tony I said I was sorry-"

"I thought you were! But then you have the nerve to try to be my conscience! To try to tell me that I was wrong. You think, that I don't go through all of what happened, in my head, analyzing it, wishing I had done things differently? You think, that I'm not constantly berating myself for tinkering with that damned mind-stone and creating Ultron? You think, that I didn't realized that I was wrong about-" Tony faltered not wanting to say Bucky's name, "-who the real bomber was in Vienna? ....You don't think...that I regret...fighting you?" Tony demanded, unable to hide the pain in his voice. 

"Tony-" Steve started, but Tony cut him off. 

"You said yourself, Steve, that 'you knew that I was only doing what I believed in. And that's all we should do'. Did you mean that Steve? Did you mean any of it!?" Tony demanded. He tried to catch himself. He had not wanted this to turn into a fueled argument. He had been hoping they could make up, but not at this rate; he was ruining everything again. 

Steve was starting to reply but Tony cut him off, "Don't bother Steve. Don't bother with me. I'm not worth your time. I'm sorry I called, I'm sorry I yelled at you, and I'm sorry I'm such a fuck up. Be safe Steve." Tony could hear Steve's protests, as he lowered the phone from his ear and hung up. He flipped the phone on vibrate, powered it off, then tossed it into a drawer. 

He should have known better than to call Steve. He should have know it would end bad. He supposed he had just been a hopeless romantic, believing their wounds could heal, but he had messed up too many times for that.


End file.
